An easy healthy lunch recipe for any day of the week. Curried Black Eyed Pea Salad Sandwiches that are gluten-free, vegan, and top 8 allergy-free. Easy to whip up on your meal prep days and have ready to go in the fridge!

Who doesn’t love a creamy chilled lunch salad sandwich? From chicken salad to chickpea salad, they’re all always such a classic lunch option. We’re taking this one up a few notches though. Nothing classic here, but still all delicious. Picture a combo of black eyed peas, crunchy veggies, sweet grapes, and a creamy curried dairy-free yogurt sauce. You don’t have to picture it, you can see it, and go make it in a few minutes after you read this recipe!…

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Minute® and provided product.

A quick and easy lunch idea for those hectic days! Buffalo Tahini Quinoa & Rice Wraps that are gluten-free, vegan, top 8 allergy-free, and freezable! A great recipe to meal prep so you’ll always have a delicious option ready to go.

I’m so not a lunch person. I live for breakfast, and dinner options are endless, but when it comes to lunch…it’s rather drab. BUT, why don’t we make lunch “cool” again? I know I’m not the only one who wishes for a little something to “spring up” that midday slump at work, school, heck, even at home! I’m always hearing from ya’ll that you want more lunch ideas. That’s the meal that everyone (at some point or another in their lives) gets stuck on.…

The classic Vietnamese sandwich made healthy, gluten-free, & vegan. Grilled Eggplant Banh Mi Sliders are a hearty, spicy, & veggie-packed recipe you can serve up for lunch, dinner, or a party!

I had to make sure I got out my last grilled recipe before Labor Day! And if you’re into the trends, you’d know that any type of Asian dish is a wide-reaching favorite of many. You know I’m a fan, and a failed fan at that! I never made it to that Thai restaurant I told you about. Summer bucket list FAIL! At least we’re expanding our Far East taste buds to Vietnam this time!

I was kind of blown away when I did some research into the classic Banh Mi sandwich. “Bánh mì” is actually a term used for Vietnamese bread, usually a wheat baguette. Now-a-days, in the Western world, when we say Banh mi, we’re 90% of the time referring to the classic, spicy, “meat-filled”, street food sandwich. Now if you might have guessed, this classic sandwich, usually with pork, mayo, and wheat bread, leaves us Strength and Sunshine eaters in a bit of a pickle.

I never leave you hanging, though! Recreate, remake, reignite! Caveat, I’ve never had a real Banh Mi, but with my pre-recipe development research, I think I nailed this one down pretty well! It’s all about some good bread, pickled veggies, some “meatiness”, and that spicy “not” mayo sauce! No to mention we’re busting out the grill pan for this one! (Grilled food = good food…always!)

For out “meatiness” what better ingredient to use than eggplant! Grilled eggplant is one of my favorite ways to serve it up and its texture is so hearty, creamy, and delicious. A perfect stable base for this killer plant-based Banh Mi!

For the “quick” pickled vegetables I used some crunchy carrot sticks and celery just soaked in some seasoned vinegar while prepping the rest of the sandwich ingredients. Daikon radish is commonly used in the Banh Mi, but confession, I actually don’t care for daikon very much. Celery does the job much better in my opinion and this is the Strength and Sunshine Banh Mi anyway…so we’re rolling with it!

The other essential veggie components used in a Banh Mi sandwich are cucumbers, cilantro, and jalapenos! I’ve always loved this combination of vegetables in the sandwich. The cucumber (and pickled veggies) balance out the heat of the raw jalapeno slices. It’s what I’d call a well thought out sandwich! If you can’t handle too much heat, you can cut super thin slices of the jalapeno or thicker if you want to bring the fire!

Last component and maybe the most important. The “mayo” sauce! Since we are not mayo people here, I channel my inner tah-ayo (i.e. tahini mayo)! Just mix some tahini, sriracha, and coconut aminos together and you have a perfect sauce for the sandwiches! So with all of these components together you get one fantastic vegan Banh Mi. Let’s not forget the bread, though! I used some Bread SRSLY sourdough sandwich rolls! Yes, we even brought sourdough into this recipe! I grilled the buns a bit to give them some crunch and WOW, your first bite of these sandwich sliders will turn you into a Banh Mi fan, however unconvential this recipe may be!

In a small bowl, combine the pickled vegetable ingredients are let sit for 45-60 minutes.

For the grilled eggplant, rub the sliced rounds with the chili paste and spices. Grill on an oiled non-stick grill pan for 5 minutes on each side.

You can also grill the sandwich rolls at this time. Slice them and grill sliced side down for 5 minutes.

For the spicy "mayo" sauce, combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.

To assemble the sliders, in this order, take a bottom grilled roll half, spread on some of the sauce, 2 slices of the grilled eggplant, 2 slices of cucumber, 2 jalapeno slices, some of the pickled veggies, 1 tablespoon of cilantro, and then spread another thin layer of the sauce on the top grilled roll half before closing up the slider.

Repeat for the rest of the sandwiches!

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1

3.5.3208

Lunch, dinner, or even for a party if you make a large batch, these sliders will be a huge hit! They’d also make a fantastic tailgating, football season dish to serve up in the next few months! Labor Day is next Monday so that maybe the time too! Actually no, the time is NOW! Make these NOW! I want to see you grilled these Banh Mi sliders up! I know these will make you a new fan of the Vietnamese cuisine if you’ve never tried it before. Gotta start somewhere and these sliders are where to start!

Everyone’s childhood favorite sandwich baked into a delicious gluten-free and vegan bar! Peanut Butter & Jelly Crumble Bars that can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, as a snack, or dessert! This healthy bar recipe will have you ditching the bread!

Ah, the fresh baked smell of peanut butter and jelly 😉 What? You don’t bake your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? I think you’re about to change that! Actually, I know you’re about to change that, once you see this recipe!

There is nothing better than a PB & J sandwich for lunch. A childhood favorite and essential that grows with you just like mac and cheese! It’s still a weekly lunch staple for me. It’s not my all-time childhood favorite of 100% whole wheat bread with Jif peanut butter and Welches grape jelly. Lovingly made and packed in my lunchbox by dear old mom. I’ve had to make some modifications, but nonetheless, still my favorite lunch!

Why not make our all-time favorite sandwich a little more wholesome, trendy, and completely breakfast, lunch, snack, and dessert worthy! (That means you can have peanut butter and jelly 4 times in one day!) The secret these bars hold is that fact that there’s no bread or peanut butter. What they’re not missing is flavor (or smell!) These smell so drool-worthy while they’re baking in the oven. I almost jumped in there with them!

Many celiacs lament the fact that finding a good, quality, and tasty sandwich bread can be rather difficult and frustrating. No bread-woes here! We’re using our friendly little safe and certified gluten-free oat friends for these crumble bars! Not just rolled oats, but oat bran as well. These are super hearty and filling which is why they can make sure a great option for a satisfying breakfast.

I’m a huge fan of fruit butters, not jellies or jams. When I found some grape butter, the heavens sang! I usually make my sandwiches with apple butter, but these crumble bars needed to be authentic, so GRAPE had to be used. Eden Foods organic concord grape butter just had to be placed in my online cart and bought specifically for this recipe. It’s just concord grapes, no added sugar or unnecessary things. Eden also makes some of my go-to’s for apple and/or cherry butter.

Of course, you probably guessed it when I said there was no peanut butter in these, that instead there was peanut flour. Peanut flour will always be one of my favorite ingredients to bake and cook with. So much flavor in a healthy baking-friendly way. One thing I never want you to do with peanut flour…make it into peanut butter by adding water. If you want peanut butter, please just eat real peanut butter. Otherwise, that’s just cringe-worthy and I’m not sure we can be friend anymore (haha!)

Since I know I’ll get some questions for modifications, yes, using almond flour would be fine (yet much less taste as almond flour is very bland), and yes, you could use a different fruit butter or even jam. I’ve heard that some people think strawberry jam is the classic fruit flavor for the sandwich, but that’s just blasphemy to me! It has to be grape to be classic! I did not grow up with strawberry jam (ever); I don’t think I had it until I was older. Traditionally when the PB & J became popular (during WWII), the sandwich was made with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and 2 tablespoons of jelly on white bread. The original brands used were Skippy or Peter Pan and Smuckers for the jelly. We were a Skippy and Welches family, but then I told my mom I liked Jif better. We were always Welches grape jelly, though, they never changed!

Everyone's childhood favorite sandwich baked into a delicious gluten-free and vegan bar! Peanut Butter & Jelly Crumble Bars that can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, as a snack, or dessert! This healthy bar recipe will have you ditching the bread!

Now evenly spread the jar of grape butter on top of this bottom layer of the bars.

Finally, add the rest of the crumble mixture on top, not pressed, but crumbled on top of the grape butter layer.

Bake the bars in the oven for 25 minutes.

Remove and let cool before cutting into 9 squares.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1

3.5.3208

All your childhood lunchtime dreams come true! Peanut Butter & Jelly Crumble BARS! Here’s one question I forgot to ask. PB & J sliced diagonally or down the middle? To be honest I never really cared. Nowadays, I don’t even bother with that nonsense, but I know it can be a point of contention for us PB & J purists!

No more boring lunches! These Grilled Green Goddess Wraps are full of green goodness and nutrition with a lima bean spread, broccoli, and hearts of palm! Gluten-free, nut-free, and vegan, these wraps are a healthy recipe that’s school or work friendly and freezable!

Let’s get wrapping and knock those sad lunch sandwiches out of the park!

No longer will you have to figure out something hearty, delicious, and o so not boring to bring to lunch, at your desk, school, etc. I have the best solution to make all your peers and coworkers jealous!

I had been wanting to make some wraps as I finally got my hands on the AMAZING BFree Foods gluten-free, vegan, and soy-free bread products! Notably their killer wraps. They needed some recipe love and spotlight time on the blog. Then I got the BIGGEST (random) craving for lima beans! We used to eat lima beans on the reg, while I was growing up. One of my and my brother’s favorite food (with those fish sticks…). For some reason I haven’t had them in such a long time, I couldn’t even remember! A tragedy!

With my craving for lima beans ignited, I knew exactly how I would incorporate the little green legume. They have so much flavor and are so distinct; a flavorful spread/hummus/pesto for my wraps seemed like the perfect idea! Keeping with a green theme, I decided to go “green goddess“. My lima bean spread + broccoli + hearts of palm for a creamy “sultry” bite. And of course, since this is the season of all things grilled, grilling these wraps was obligatory!

You start with the wrap and the spread on 2/3 of the wrap. Then layer on some raw sliced broccoli and sliced whole hearts of palm. Then you fold it up like a burrito, place it on a grill pan (mine is getting so much use lately!), grill for just a few minutes on each side to seal it and make the raw broccoli tender and spread creamy. Then devour right then, or you can even wrap them in foil and freeze or save them in the fridge for later! Perfect for school, work, and anytime you’re in a lunch-rut!

I wrote this recipe to make only 2 wraps, but it can so easily be doubled for 4 or tripled! Which, believe me, after you taste your first one, you’ll want one every day! Now, 1, 2, 3, let’s get WRAPPING!

No more boring lunches! These Grilled Green Goddess Wraps are full of green goodness and nutrition with a lima bean spread, broccoli, and hearts of palm! Gluten-free, nut-free, and vegan, these wraps are a healthy recipe that's school or work friendly and freezable!

In a food processor, blend together all the lima bean spread ingredients until you get a thick hummus texture.

Take one wrap and lay it out flat. Spread ⅓ cup (half the lima bean spread) on ⅔s of the wrap. Then take about half the raw sliced broccoli and layer that on top of the spread. Take on of the sliced whole hearts of palm and so the same.

Roll the wrap like a burrito, tucking in the ends.

Heat a grill pan over high heat and grill the wrap, seam side down first, for about 2 minutes. Flip the wrap over and grill the other side for another 2 minutes.

Repeat this process for the other wrap(s).

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1

3.5.3208

So creamy, so grilled(?), so delicious! The meaty hearts of palm, tender and slightly crunchy broccoli, plus that noochy lima bean spread all tucked into that grilled wrap is indescribable! I may of may not have dipped mine in ketchup (don’t judge!) Dipping them in some of my homemade green goddess sauce would be a stellar idea too! Anyway you do it, I hope you enjoy them; I know I did! Now I can’t stop the love for lima beans (I’ve been stocking up on frozen bags every week and the grocery now!)

Hey friends! I’m Rebecca a healthy gluten-free & allergy-friendly food blogger, Celiac advocate, yogi, and college student! I have a strong passion for finding the beauty and happiness in life no matter what hurdles it throws at you. To me happiness is sunshine, stepping onto my yellow yoga mat, waking up at 4 am, mugs of hot tea or black coffee, and of course cooking up delicious, nutritious food!